I nearly toppled from my seat on the couch when he let the white sphere drop into my hands. Hailey reached out and stopped me from face-planting along with my whole body onto the floor. Quickly regaining my balance, I leaned back and let the orb rest gently in my lap.
A new interface appeared as I activated OMNISIGHT.
I used the skill with an intent to appraise the object, which resulted in a display similar to the loot window when I'd received something new, but it was quite a bit more detailed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - {INSPECTION} - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ORB OF INFRASTRUCTURE]
[Aetherline Device] (OFFLINE)
{Control Interface}
A magickal tool that can be used by a Seat of Power's Ruler to visualize its status.
REQUIRES AETHERFLUX CONNECTIVITY.
» AETHERLINE STATUS: OFFLINE
» CONFIGURATION: INVALID
» MISSING TERMINAL CONNECTION
» AUTHORIZED RULER DETECTED IN PROXIMITY
» RULER ADVISED TO RESET THIS AETHERLINE DEVICE AFTER FLUX CONNECTION IS REESTABLISHED
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hmmm… I don't know what any of this means.
The dumbstruck faces on half my companions assured me that I wasn't the only one lost.
Hanna and Julius stared at the message in great interest.
"Do you two understand this jargon?"
"…"
"Helloooo!?"
Hanna's attention was torn away and she jolted her gaze to me.
"Yes, sorry! I mean, not everything. But it's definitely an aetherline device. Quite a unique one."
"What, in all that is holy, is an aetherline?"
She looked at me questioningly.
"Come on, Hanna. Just dumb it down for me. I've been through a lot and I'm feeling very lost."
"But… You must have been exposed to some aetherline tech back in Axio? Command was full of stuff that utilized it."
"Uhhhh…"
Julius finally came to my rescue, "You've been in the communications room, right? The one packed with all those artificer class divisionals."
"Oh, yeah. Tons of times. Whenever the field divisions contacted Command, I would get called in there."
"Uh huh. All of that equipment runs over the aetherline."
Well now I feel dumb.
"Okay. Yeah, I've seen that stuff. I never really had to use it though."
Hailey pulled at my sleeve. She was sitting up on her knees leaning forwards, close to me, with an intense look.
"Hails? You alright?"
"Magister Timmons!"
"Huh?"
"He taught us about this in our third year."
"Nobody is going to remember some class from ten years ago!"
She fell back in her seat and pouted, "I remember that class…"
"Probably because you actually like going to class when we attended VxA. The only good thing from that place was the magickal classes. That school was—And you! I'm thankful I met you while I was there!"
I barely managed to avoid a total disaster.
The calamity that would have befallen me would have been world ending.
Hailey sighed incredulously. Yeah. I'm still in trouble.
Julius was back in action to save me a second time.
"I don't think there's anything we can do with this unless we had a functioning aetherline set up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe any senior artificers specializing in aetherflux engineering made it to us from Axio?"
Hanna and Hailey shook their heads.
Luke took a little longer to answer, but also indicated no; though he offered some insight, "The closest we might have is Dori. And maybe your sister, Commander."
"Rias? I don't think so. She was going to school for Alchemy. She does a little bit on tinkering with odd stuff, sure. But I'm positive it's not anything like this."
He bobbed his head back and forth, considering my response. "Well, I can't imagine it will hurt to ask. I'll head to the blacksmith right away."
Luke left, but Hanna stayed behind and was engaged with whatever Hailey and Julius were working on before the interruption with the orb.
I had hauled the thing over to a nearby table.
Before I got the chance to see what was so important, another knock came to our door. Hard banging was paired with a panicked shout.
"Hostiles spotted at the main gate!"
Julius sprang into action, grabbing his gear and rushing out into the hall. He yelled at the messenger to head to the southern wing and inform Mei to meet us there.
Hanna, Hailey, and I chased after him.
We weren't the only ones hurrying to the city entrance. Groups of armed soldiers were running ahead of us from the barracks inside the Citadel.
When we arrived at the gatehouse thirty-minutes later, there were about fifty others assembled in the courtyard.
The area around was lit up by braziers.
I looked around to see if Soren or Alistaire might have gotten caught up in the excitement, but it didn't appear that they had arrived yet, if they were wrapped up in this at all.
So, with my available companions I formed a party.
I brought up the interface briefly to make sure everyone had the proper assignments, and noticed that it had updated slightly.
With a little bit of mental effort I was able to configure the display to show the information more styled to my taste.
- - - - - - - - - - - - {PARTY MEMBERS} - - - - - - - - - - - -
[AIRIS] {OPERATOR}
HEALTH: (320 / 320) | STAMINA: (353 / 410) | MAGICKA: (600 / 600)
- - -
[JULIUS] {INITIATOR}
HEALTH: (620 / 620) | STAMINA: (373 / 400] | MAGICKA: (70 / 70)
- - -
[HAILEY]
HEALTH: (80 / 80) | STAMINA: (107 / 190) | MAGICKA: (590 / 590)
- - -
[HANNA]
HEALTH: (250 / 250) | STAMINA: (360 / 400) | MAGICKA: (350 / 350)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everyone had a small amount of fatigue from the fast sprint through the city—but poor Hailey was suffering the worst. Her shorter stride and low STAMINA attribute didn't do her any favors.
We were approached by a small group of divisionals; a party led by a woman geared in golden-trimmed armor. Her High-Defender insignia was displayed squarely on her breastplate.
She introduced herself as the acting Watch-Captain and briefed us on the ongoing situation that had been unfolding over the course of the evening.
About five hours ago a small band of refugees arrived. Apparently, some of the guards on duty recognized them and allowed them through the gate, holding them in a building nearby that had been converted into a checkpoint station.
The refugees claimed their homes had been attacked by a raiding party of bandits. They were forced to flee and had been on the run for a few days. Their horses were pushed well to the point of collapse, and many of the people were showing signs of malnutrition and illness.
An hour ago, a mass of light was spotted in the distance. The scouts atop the walls identified them as a possible threat, as a number of the riders in the advancing group were heavily armed.
By the time we had arrived, the group was now within an hour's distance to the city walls.
The Watch-Captain led us to the checkpoint building, were we met some familiar faces.
A tall elven man with golden curls was sitting next to a woman with short brown hair. In his lap was a cat with brown and black patterning. They appeared exhausted, both slouched awkwardly in their chairs. When I approached them there wasn't even a slight indication they noticed me.
"Hey, Amelia, Nyle. This a surprise—to see you that is. I do wish it was under better circumstances though."
They both glanced up weakly, the movement of their eyes was sluggish. Fatigue had worn them both down to a point where it seemed like our presence barely registered.
I knelt down next to them and gently placed a hand on each of their arms. Drawing magickal energy from my core, I surged holy power into my palms.
Very softly, I spoke a simple healing incantation.
"Divine light, Heal."
Golden light coursed through their bodies as the healing magick restored their vitality.
They both twitched a little; an expected response to their nerves being lit up with magick. Fortunately the mild spasm didn't seem to bother Meko, who continued to nap undisturbed in Nyle's lap.
Reality slowly came back to the two tavern workers.
The typically energetic waitress' eyes were the first to light up with recognition. Amelia's focus drifted around the four of us but landed back on me.
Her voice was just as weak as expected, resonating the stress she'd been through.
"Well if it isn't my secret commander. I didn't realize it was you until I saw that handsome man of yours. That clothing really suits you, I do love a beautiful woman out of uniform."
Hailey forced herself into place next to me and narrowed her eyes at Amelia.
"Airis, where do you know her from?"
"You should know her as well. This is Amelia. She was a waitress at the tavern in Cahir. She's the one who told us about you passing through."
Hanna stepped in and cupped a hand around Hailey's ear, and whispered in a hushed but still barely audible tone "She's the one you drunkenly told the story of the Commander's heroics in Axio to."
"Oh. Well you know, a lot has happened in the last three weeks," Hailey timidly retreated, "I must have just forgotten."
Amelia laughed lightly and leaned back in her chair. The slight curl of a smile on her face.
"I don't blame you. You had a lot to drink that night." She smirked slyly.
There's some of that energy back.
Hailey panicked, waving her arms back and forth.
"I did not! It was only—I had a rough week! Okay!?"
Her flailing around in defense was incredibly cute. I couldn't stop myself from grabbing her hands while they raced through the air.
"Nobody is judging you, you lush."
I winked at her and started laughing. I spun her around, my arms now crossed around her shoulders and holding her close.
She protested and tried to squirm away, "Let me go! Not fair!"
While I fought against her wiggling, Nyle had started talking to Julius and one of the guardsmen. Seeing the three of them in such a serious mode grounded me, and I refocused on why we were here.
"Amelia, can you tell us what happened? We heard there was a bandit attack on the village…"